Horses and Chicken Feed

               Saturday my horses were out and Greaser (the brown boy) likes to dip his head into the chicken pen and watch them. He is fairly tall so it’s easy for him to hang his head over the fence and look in. He will stand their watching them as they cluster together and peck the ground. Greaser also like to try and nudge me out of the way when I am trying to put in feed in for the chickens. He likes the corn in their feed.

               I often wonder what’s in my chickens feed. I think their feed is nearly all corn. Corn all day has got to be boring for them. So, I decided to find out what is actually in the chicken feed.

Main Feed:

Alfalfa meal (high protein, good for winter), Corn (mainstay for chickens, store whole), Field peas (for protein, to avoid soybean use), Wheat, Oats and/or Barley (less than 15% of total diet together),

Things Sometimes Added:

               Aragonite or feeding limestone (for calcium), Oyster shell (calcium, free feed), Salt, Probiotic (feed them fermented dairy foods, or fermented vegetables), Crab meal (small amounts provide protein and minerals), Flax seed (omega-3), Mineral supplements, Kelp (mineral source), Fish meal (helps boost protein and omega-3s), Cultured yeast (B vitamins, minerals and digestive enzymes)

(Ware)

There are quite a few things in the feed that I didn't know was there. I often throw out some other stuff to the chicken though. Leftovers from dinners I collect for them and toss out. I’ll throw out stall bread crust, orange peels, and old lettuce or squash of the sort. The chickens love it; it’s their favorite thing to get new flavors. They’re not picky about what I give them, they will peck then eat whatever is thrown in as long as they can swallow it. That’s what’s cool about chickens.

 

Work Cited

Ware, Lauren. "How to Make Your Own Chicken or Poultry Feed." How to Make Your Own Chicken or Poultry Feed. About.com, n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2014.